Qin Dynasty: Who offended my frail and sickly minister?

"Brother Gu'an—"

Zhou Wenqing drawled out the last syllable, reaching out to press down on Li Si's trembling fingers, his tone a mixture of amusement and helplessness:

"You're the Minister of Justice, in charge of the Qin Dynasty's criminal law. What storms haven't you weathered? A mere furnace has terrified you like this?"

"A mere furnace?!" Li Si's voice rose even higher, his finger pointing fiercely at the row of iron ingots. "This... this is iron that can be used to forge weapons! Iron that can arm thousands of troops! You throw this at me and call it mere?!"

"I told you I shouldn't have let you run wild like that, going to that Qi state at a time like this!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, and his voice even cracked.

"No, I must tell the King, this is far too important! It's absurd that you would entrust the supervision to someone like me who knows absolutely nothing about craftsmanship!"

"If anything goes wrong, the losses for my Great Qin will far exceed the petty gains caused by mere internal strife. Do you understand?"

Li Si was so excited that his face turned red and sweat beaded on his forehead. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to leave.

"No, I must go see the King immediately. You must not leave Xianyang!"

"Brother Gu'an—"

Zhou Wenqing quickly reached out and grabbed his sleeve, stopping him in his tracks.

Li Si turned around and glared at him, his eyes red with anxiety.

"Don't stop me! This is non-negotiable!"

"Let me finish speaking." Zhou Wenqing's voice was not loud, but steady and clear, like a stone falling into a rushing river.

"You just said that you don't understand craftsmanship and can't supervise this furnace—I ask you, when the Court of Justice handles a case, does the Chief Justice personally examine the body, investigate, and collect evidence?"

Li Si glared at him: "How do you know I've never been there?"

He will still go in person when necessary.

Zhou Wenqing was momentarily speechless.

Okay, I almost forgot, he's also a staunch advocate of "doing things his own way".

Are you even going to leave any way for us normal people to survive? We are at odds with you guys who have unlimited energy and are masters of time management!

Zhou Wenqing took a deep breath, decided to stop beating around the bush, and went straight to the point:

"What Brother Gu'an needs to do is oversee the overall situation, manage manpower, allocate resources, and wait until the production line is mature, production is stable, and the weapons are manufactured before presenting them to the King—it's not about having you personally tend the furnace!"

In fact, these production lines have become quite stable, and even if he were here, that's about all he could do.

It's a pity I can't present that royal sword to the king in person.

Although Prince Yan Dan was killed, Zhou Wenqing was still uneasy. He thought that it was unlikely that a few more large pillars would be added to Zhangtai Palace, but it was possible to replace the king's sword!

As for this royal sword, he had only one requirement: speed! Extreme speed!

It not only needs to be incredibly sharp and fast, but it also needs to be able to be pulled out at the fastest speed.

So fast that the assassin's hand hadn't even touched the hilt of his sword before the king's sword was already drawn; so fast that the sound of the wind hadn't even reached his ears before the sword light had already slashed through the air; ideally, so fast that even the assassin himself wouldn't know what had happened before he was already lying on the ground contemplating life.

However, since Brother Gu'an was able to bring me to offer it, it's actually about the same.

Zhou Wenqing put aside his thoughts and continued, "As for the technical aspects, Brother Gu'an, you don't need to worry. I've already made arrangements."

He loosened Li Si's sleeve, took out the scroll from it, unfolded it, and pointed to the densely packed writing on it:

"Look, I've already written out the regulations, including details of the craftsmen, personnel allocation, production process, and contingency plans, though they're unlikely to be used. In short, everything is written out clearly."

"It's not just iron smelting; there are other key projects as well, such as papermaking, salt production, winemaking, glassmaking, printing... it's all included."

Li Si heard several terms he had never heard of before and couldn't understand at all. His eyes widened and his mouth opened, but Zhou Wenqing pressed him down again before he could speak.

"Don't worry, I'll take you to meet them one by one, Brother Gu'an. You can rest assured."

Zhou Wenqing's voice was calm and unhurried, carrying a reassuring certainty.

"The craftsmen here are the most stable in character. They know their responsibilities and will never make mistakes. I also entrust the person in charge of each project to Brother Gu'an."

He patted Li Si on the shoulder and added with a smile, "In that case, Brother Gu'an doesn't need to know craftsmanship; he only needs to know management—which is exactly what Brother Gu'an excels at."

Li Si glared at him, his lips twitching repeatedly, before finally managing to squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth: "You call this 'as long as you know how to manage, it's fine'?"

"Otherwise what?" Zhou Wenqing winked at him, then quickly suppressed his smile, became slightly serious, and looked directly at Li Si, speaking slowly but earnestly, word by word:

"Brother Gu'an, I know this matter is of great importance and is no ordinary one, but if I had to entrust someone to do before I leave, I would only trust you, and there is no one else who would do it."

Li Si was slightly taken aback, remained silent for a moment, and then lowered his eyes.

The firelight flickered on his profile, casting shadows that obscured the emotions hidden in his eyes. Then he sighed, looked at Zhou Wenqing, and felt a mixture of helplessness and relief.

"Sigh, since Zicheng has said so, it seems that I have no choice but to risk my life to help you, even with my old bones."

"That's wonderful, thank you so much, Brother Gu'an!"

Zhou Wenqing immediately beamed, as if afraid he would change his mind, and quickly shoved the file into his arms, the movement as fast as stuffing a hot potato.

"It's not actually that complicated, really!"

Li Si looked down at the scroll, reached out and flipped through it, one page, two pages, three pages... He flipped faster and faster, more and more urgently, his brows furrowing more and more tightly, his eyebrows almost twisted into a pretzel.

Finally, he slammed the door shut, looked up at Zhou Wenqing, and stared at him with a complicated expression.

"You were prepared all along, or at least you anticipated this, which is why you were so well-prepared, wasn't it?"

Yes, no.

There was a vague sense of foreboding, but Zhou Wenqing couldn't say anything, nor did he intend to. He simply prepared for the worst, tidying everything up so that if something unexpected happened to him, his work could continue.

Zhou Wenqing touched his nose and smiled sheepishly, "Brother Gu'an is brilliant."

"Brilliant my foot!"

Li Si cursed, but his voice softened. He stuffed the silk scroll into his sleeve and let out a long sigh.

"I'll keep an eye on this place for you, but you have to promise me that you'll return safely from Qi. I'll guard these things for you for now, but you'll have to come back and report back yourself."

Zhou Wenqing felt a warmth in his heart and nodded with a smile: "Brother Gu'an, don't worry, I'll keep my life to come back and receive a reward."

"A reward?" Li Si snorted, giving him an annoyed glare. "You're lucky you don't cause trouble!"

Zhou Wenqing chuckled a few times without saying a word. Seeing that Li Si had already turned around and was preparing to inspect the behemoth that was about to be handed over to him, he hurriedly caught up with him.

"Brother Gu'an, there is one more matter concerning... Korea, which requires your attention."